Back in March 2014, one verse in the Bible jumped off the pages and became fully alive in my life. It is nothing short of amazing that these words… nearly 2000 years old, inspired by God, penned by the Apostle Paul… that they would become the catalyst to a series of promptings, divine appointments, prayers and events that have led me to this moment in time… writing this journal entry at 35,000 feet, somewhere over the Gulf of Mexico, en route to El Salvador, with a group of seven friends. The verse to which I’m referring is…

Ephesians 5:14“…for anything that becomes visible is Lighttherefore it says,Awake, O’ sleeper,and Arise from the dead,and Christ will Shine upon you.”

… and it became the inspiration and foundation for this humble little organization that God birthed through me and named…

You can read the full story behind it all on our website here. But in a nutshell, Mission 5IVE.14 was created to encourage people to AWAKE. ARISE. and SHINE a Light in the World.I believe that when we press in and intentionally discover and learn to grow into the person God really created us to be, we can leverage our unique gifts and talents to love and serve others really, really well… in the ways which God actually designed each of us to do!

I’m sharing all of this with you is because I believe its important to know the “WHY” behind these impact trips to El Salvador and Love & Hope Children’s Home. And btw, I’ll admit that I borrowed the term, ‘impact trip’ from another organization. I like it. It makes more sense than “mission trip.” And this now being my 5th trip down here, I’m beginning to see the fruit, or the impact, of our commitment to continually return to serve at Love & Hope. It’s been my prayer and desire that we’d be able to build lasting relationships with the kids and hopefully make a lasting impact in their lives… and of course not to mention the lasting impact that God makes in the lives of those who join me on these trips.

So this trip is really exciting for me on a new level because those prayers are starting to be answered as we’ve earned the right to invite the older kids into a small group, conversational, environment. The topic of conversation is: “AWAKE - Discovering who God created you to be.” Me and the team cannot wait for these conversations to happen!

The theme for this trip's journal entries by each contributor is going to based around how each of us has discovered (or is in the process of discovering) the unique gifts and talents that God has given us and how we've intentionally sought to use those gifts to love and serve others. My encouragement (which is actually one of my gifts) to you is that these stories we share will be a blessing in your life and might ignite a desire to start asking yourself, "Who was I really created to be and how can I use my unique gifts and talents to love and serve others well? Who knows...you may just step onto a path that helps you 'Shine a Light in the World' brighter than you ever have before!

Vamos Equipo!- Brett

p.s. - Two Things! 1. To learn more about what we're doing on this current impact trip click here.2. If you'd like to take step toward being more AWAKE. in your own life and "Discovering who God created you to be", there's some resources to get you started on the Mission 5IVE.14 website,